


Absolutes in Relativity

by starrypaladins



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cancer, Cancer Arc, Depression, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pain, Pining, Rumors, Sick Character, Sickfic, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-01-06 12:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12211323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrypaladins/pseuds/starrypaladins
Summary: In the grand scheme of things, there are very few necessities. Food, water, air, and shelter. Those are absolutes. There is hardly anything more absolute than the human need for those 4 things, and not a single person can beat those absolutes. However, everything else is relative. No single person needs anything else to survive, despite the illusion that more is needed.





	1. Before He Entered

**Author's Note:**

> Updated as often as possible!

     ‘Pain effects the body' is one of the most common absolutes. And it does, but the way in which it effects oneself varies on the person. Some see it as a release, some are consumed by it throughly, and others worship it like it's the one thing keeping them truly alive. Keith is used to feeling pain, being consumed by it. Every waking moment is pain when you live life without a speck of meaning. He's not unhappy, but he doesn't really know what it is to be happy in the grand scheme of things. Living in a state of pure lack in most emotional areas is truly blinding to those who suffer in this way. He often wonders what happiness must be like. Maybe it's like a warm cup of tea by a slowly dying fire, watching flames dance as they reach the end of their lifespan, while being surrounded by love. What love would feel like is also a mystery, but he assumes it must be a lot like happiness, maybe warmer. It's not that he'd never been happy or never felt love, it's just been too long since he's felt it to really know what it was like. Perhaps that better, there really is no love in hospitals.

  
     Keith lost his mom years ago, to the same disease keeping him trapped in the white walls of a hospice care facility. He was only five when she died from the same cancer tons of members of her family had died from. Leukemia claimed the lives of both his parents, though only one suffered from it. He lived with a deadbeat dad for ten years, which didn't change when his father remarried some woman who Keith never bothered to get to know. With that woman came a son, Shiro, who was several years older than him and more of a dad than his had ever been. Not long after that marriage, however, Keith got sick and never got better. Shiro took him to the hospital, and stayed there with him. When Keith's dad found out where they were, he started to make his way there. That's when Keith and Shiro got the news. Unsurprisingly, Keith had Leukemia too. Of course, the hospital workers took it upon themselves to call Keith's dad, who "accidentally" ran into a pole after hearing the news. Keith didn't really care, as far as he was concerned, his dad died with his mom almost twelve years ago at that point. His stepmother didn't really care, she never really did. Any money from Keith's father's will went to his cancer, but nothing else did. It wasn't much, but it had been enough for the past year. He was lucky to be alive, but he'd honestly rather be dead. He didn't have any friends, no close ones anyways. He had Shiro and his boyfriend, Matt, but he only saw Shiro three days a week now. He often brings Matt, but more often than not, his only visitor is Katie Holt, Matt's little sister, who preferred to go by Pidge, though the nurses still call her Katie despite the amount of time she spends in Keith’s hospital room. She typically just reads to Keith, but some days she comes in with new drama from her school, which seems pretty crazy based on what she's said. Then again, Pidge also said that Keith is just like Hazel Grace from _The Fault in Our Stars_ , which could be a compliment but he's never bothered to read the book. He's told it's quite 'meta' in the sense that it's a stereotypical book about how death in books is all the same while being basically the same story as a majority of the books it's complaining about. Apparently Pidge doesn't like it, but the girl down the hall is always raving about it. He only knows this because every Wednesday at noon, the kids living in the hospital are supposed to have lunch together in the cafeteria for socialization purposes. They could talk to each other any time they wanted, but nobody ever wants to talk. It's not surprising, especially since Keith is one of the oldest and looks like a depressed skeleton, mainly because he never took off his MCR shirt. It's not that he really liked My Chemical Romance, but wearing the shirt made people avoid him, and he'd rather people just kept their distance. He'd be old enough to get out of the children's ward soon enough, he'd be eighteen in a little over a year. And he wanted to leave, he really did. Days were beginning to blend together. Pain, relief, visitors. Every single day. Nobody new came to the ward for a very long time. 

     Shiro went to study abroad sometime around February, which seemed like a weird time to leave in Keith's opinion, but he hadn't been to a legitimate school and probably wouldn't live long enough for college so his opinion probably wasn't very valid. Keith started spending more time in the common space, reading books he'd already read just to have a reason to be out of his room. The hospital didn't used to have this common room, but they also didn't used to have thirteen cancer patients and more coming each month so he supposed it wasn't much of a stretch that they'd add one in. Usually he didn't see much, occasionally a person being wheeled to chemo, or parents walking by to see their kids. He didn't expect to see any more new people this month, since nobody had arrived recently. A girl he had never seen walked by, but on further investigation, she was just a visitor. He followed her to her destination. His room. He didn't want to startle her, but he wanted to know what she was here for.

  
"Excuse me?"

She had dyed grey hair that framed her face, and light brown skin. Her eyes were large and blue, and they looked like they could see into his soul.

"Keith? Hi, I'm Allura, a friend of Shiro's. I'd heard a lot about you and thought I'd drop by."

     He couldn't explain the feeling welling in his body. Though he assumed it was confusion, maybe a bit of excitement for something different. The two got along surprisingly well, bonding over a similar past of loss. She lost both her parents when she was younger, and grew up with her Uncle Coran. Apparently he was hilarious, but Keith knew he'd never find out. He wasn't getting out of this hospital unless he was being taken out to be buried.

     Keith felt a bit empty when she left, but not for long, because the second he left the room to go to the common area again, a new person walked past. A tall boy with caramel skin, a prominent nose, and fluffy brown hair.

"Fuck he's cute..." was all Keith could think for almost a minute.

    Keith watched him go by in confusion, staring down the hallway. Three rooms from his was the new boy, the one with the fluffy hair, and he realized that moment that the feeling in the hospital changed. Or maybe it was just him.

 


	2. A Lone Wolf

Lance would be considered lucky to most. He wasn't rich or famous, but he had a loving family, an amazing best friend, and he hadn't had any major problems in his life. Not counting him getting sick, which was obviously a pretty big problem. The last thing he wanted to do was move his belongings into a hospital, but he had no choice but to. He said goodbye to all his nieces and nephews a few days before he left. He didn’t want to leave, but he wanted to get treatment to live. His family was having a reunion in Cuba in a couple years, he wanted to go to college, and he wanted to see all his younger family members grow up.  
Walking into the hospital wasn’t hard at all, his mother was holding his bag for him because he couldn’t hold much at all anymore, so all he had to do was figure out how to check in. As he was entering the hall, he saw a girl with dyed silver hair leaving. He winked at her, which warranted and eye roll from the female. 

“Typical,” he muttered. 

“What is it sweetie, is something the matter?” 

“No, everything is fine.” 

The room smelled clean, which he didn’t know was possible but apparently it was. It was decorated with some photos, and his older siblings were there to wish him well. He was given gifts and hugs, and they all chatted for about an hour before everyone had to leave so he could begin basic treatment. That’s when everything hit him. He cried like a baby alone is his room, and then he heard a knock at his door. He quickly dryed his tears and told the person to come in. A kind-looking nurse entered his room, in her hand a hospital dress and a piece of paper. She explained all of his scheduals; when and where each meal was, when he had operations or radiation, and when therapists were available. It was hard to read, but his glasses were helping just enough. He requested to meet others, but was told he’d have to go in the gown so they could sanatize the clothes he had, so he refused. He made his way to the shower so he could go in one of the other hospital rooms, making sure he was completely clean before stepping out. His skin was pretty dry afterwards, so he contacted a nurse, who allowed him the use of lotion and other skincare products for the time being. He went straight into the common area in his gown, figuring he would be alone in there, or at least alone with some cute cancer girls. But alas, upon entry, he saw only a boy in a giant My Chemical Romance top. Well, it could have been a girl, their hair was still growing in, though their jaw was squared so any assumption was pretty valid. He tried to act casual, but he felt pretty dumb. 

“Hey”

The room was silent. The other person just stared at his book, but Lance could have sworn he was blushing. Instead of bothering him, he just left in a rush. He wandered the hall, peeking into open doors and knocking on closed ones. Sometimes, a kid came out and said hello, other times, it was silent. He met a girl, Nyma, that he assumed had brain cancer because of the strange hat she was wearing. That or she was an avid fan of Star Wars; The Clone Wars. He didn’t really think he’d met everyone, but before he could be concerned, he spotted his best friend barreling toward him, arms outstretched. Lance rushed to hug him, happy to see a familiar face is the general doom and gloom that he had been surrounded by. He took Hunk into his room, which Hunk was very excited about. Hunk brought Lance his special cookies despite the rules about food, and Lance was beyond excited to consume them all. They talked for what seemed like hours, and in the time, Hunk promised he’d come visit as much as he could. Lance needed his strength, and he needed to see Hunk’s face as much as possible just in case he stops being able to. Hunk left around dinner time, which didn’t phase Lance, who was heading down to eat anyways. Unfortunately, however, the boy from the common room was in the hallway, and Hunk basically plowed him down as he rushed out. The skinny boy muttered angrily as he got up, which wasn’t an easy process for him as it were, and he resumed his trudge to eat. Lance couldn’t help but wonder about him, and why exactly he seemed so singled out, even in an empty hallway. It was a question he was quite determined to answer.


	3. His Introduction

It was way more work to get food than he’d like to admit. Walking was tiring and painful when he was hungry and he honestly wasn’t sure why. He didn’t want to complain, because that would only lead to another checkup with more treatment. He was almost to where he needed to the common room, which is where dinner was served whenever a new kid came to the hospital, when a giant kid slammed into him and he fell to the floor. He felt like an idiot, and honestly considered staying down and waiting for a nurse to help. He heard steps coming his way, and he made the rash decision to just get up and resume what he was doing. Keith made his way into the large room and sat down at the end of the table in order to avoid having to sit next to anyone, especially the new kid. It wasn’t because he didn’t like him, it was because he was afraid he would. He felt betrayed by almost everyone he had ever known, and he didn’t want to feel that with another person. Everyone slowly made their way into the common room, IV tubes and all. He could hear the sneaker squeaks of the last few kids enter. He was cold, and regretted forgetting his favorite jacket in his room. A nurse entered with the same boy he had seen in the common room earlier. His first thought was to immediately look away, but too quickly the boy across the room from him made eye contact. He started talking, and it was almost as though he was talking only to Keith. 

“Hi everyone, I’m Lance. I’m seventeen years old, and I have Osteosarcoma and I don’t know how long I’ve had it and it’s- I mean...that’s all, thanks for letting me join you,” and with those words, Keith saw Lance’s eyes change from welcoming to stormy. Lance looked away from Keith, and attempted to keep himself from crying. 

“Anyways, it’s nice to meet all of you, and I hope to learn more about you.”

The forced positivity was obvious to Keith, but apparently not to anyone else in the room. Everyone smiled and nodded, completely ignoring the obvious pain in the boy’s eyes. Before he could worry about Lance any more, other hospital workers arrived at the door with food. Keith ate as fast as possible, and tried not to listen to anything going on around him. 

“That’s Keith, he’s...the weird one. Nobody likes him, he’s all doom and gloom all the time.”

“Keith is really scary Lance, don’t go near him.”

“I heard that he knifed someone when he was seven.” 

It was all a lie. Keith hadn’t done anything like that. But the look of horror in Lance’s eyes hurt more than the words of the pathetic kids in the hospital. His blue eyes turned grey and basically stabbed him, and he felt like his chest was ripping in half.


	4. He’s Out Of Reach

He felt like an idiot when he sat down. He started crying in front of a room full of strangers and he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable and awkward. Even still, he couldn’t help but want to stay focused on the boy he’d seen earlier. His hair was hardly grown in, just a tuft on the top of his head. From his ID, however, he could see that he used to have a mullet. The male with the undeniabley gorgeous eyes sitting at the end of the table had a fucking mullet. What was he supposed to do with that information anyways. He wasn’t any less attractive because of it, but he wasn’t sure he could date someone so out of touch with modern style that he rocked a mullet after the eighties. Then again, thinking about dating someone that he hadn’t even spoken to, and that he met in the cancer section of a hospital, seemed like a completely irrational idea that he chose to just brush off. He was completely zoned out and was probably awkwardly staring at the boy, because everyone started basically yelling in his ear. 

“That’s Keith, he’s...the weird one. Nobody likes him, he’s all doom and gloom all the time.”

“Keith is really scary Lance, don’t go near him.”

“I heard that he knifed someone when he was seventeen.” 

He looked at Keith, completely shocked, and made eye contact without intending to. He didn’t believe anything they were saying, he just couldn’t fathom rumors like that going around about such a lovely looking boy. Keith looked pained as he got up to leave the room, and he couldn’t help but want to chase after him. He finished his food and left the room, sanitizing his hands on the way out. He walked slowly, reading the name on each door until he found what he was looking for. 

Keith  
17  
Leukemia 

He knocked quietly, and he didn’t hear a response, he pressed his ear against the door. He hear sniffing and gentle sobs. He checked to make sure this was Keith’s room, and it most definitely was. Lance knocked again, louder this time, in hopes of getting a response.  
“Keith, it’s me...uh, Lance. Can I come in? I’d really like to make your aquentence.” He waited. No response for a few seconds, and moments later, Lance was bombarded once again by the loud noise of the other children making their way down the hallway. He heard a sound that might have been Keith telling him to enter, but he just walked away, hoping that he’d be fast enough to get to his room without being seen or questioned by the kids. He sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. He couldn’t help but want to be talking with Keith, but he didn’t know what he could about that. Lance couldn’t help but feel like Keith was completely out of his reach despite how much he desperately wanted him.


	5. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note

Hi! Life really got in the way of writing this fic, and I almost feel bad picking up now. I was overwhelmed to see the support this, and some of my other stories, had gotten while I was gone. This story started as a way to vent, because my best friends mother had recently died from Leukemia, and I never thought that could happen to anyone I was close to. Regardless, in her honor, I hope to tell a story worth sharing, and I hope any remaining readers will help me do so. I will be posting a new chapter ASAP.


End file.
